Cookies Recipes

Thumbprint cookies are similar to sablé cookies. They both have the texture of shortbread. The characteristic thumbprint shape is created by pressing down on the cookie with a spoon half-way through the baking process. A sweet filling is placed in the resulting cavity. The cookie itself has a mild sweetness that goes very well with the sweeter filling. The filling can be jam, preserves, caramel or even chocolate.

I chose a pink mint filling because of my little five-year-old sister-in-law. She came to me with the cutest request. She adores Cookie Monster, and often shares her cookies with the Cookie Monster doll we got her. Today, she came to me, hid her face with the stuffed animal and said in her best Cookie Monster impersonation, "Cookie Monster is hungry, I want pink cookies." My heart melted; I can't say no to my little munchkin.

All the girls gathered in the kitchen and pink cookies it was. I looked in the pantry and found several choices for a pink-colored cookie. Some pink-colored mint chocolate chips from Guittard, raspberry and strawberry extracts or rose paste. The girls voted and we went for a rose-flavored cookie dough with pink mint chocolate filling. Sunny, my 13-year-old eldest sister-in-law wanted to create some fun design in the filling, so we melted some bittersweet chocolate and vanilla chips as well. This has to be some fun designs.

We were all very happy with our unique cookies and needless to say, Cookie Monster also enjoyed our creation.

Sablé cookies are very famous in Brittany on the West Coast of France. They are very similar to shortbread, except they are made with egg yolks. They also have a characteristic sandy outside edge and they are very rich in butter. Sablés have a mild sweetness that is a perfect complement for sweet mousses or parfaits.

These cookies take me back in time to my childhood. I remember coming back from school and inhaling them with a huge glass of milk.

Rose and Strawberry Malt Cookies are inspired by Dorie Greenspan's amazing cookbook, Baking: From My Home To Yours. When I cook, I like to find inspirations in all sorts of places. Dorie Greespan's original cookie recipe is Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops. I made some green pandan cookies a few weeks back and I thought that I could experiment and add rose paste and strawberry extracts to the the malt ball candies.

I discovered Dorie Greenspan through Pierre Herme's work. She wrote his cookbook, Dessert by Pierre Herme. I'm a big fan of Pierre Herme, he's the Master when it comes to patisserie (baking). If you get a chance to stop by one of his stores in Paris, I highly recommend that you do and enjoy a French macaron. Oh I miss Paris...

No one can argue with the fact that American cookies are the best. When I lived in Paris and came to the US, I kept bringing a ton of American cookies home to my friends and relatives. Cookies are always a nice treat no matter the age of the cookie monster or the occasion being celebrated. We thought Santa would appreciate and taste some of our homemade cookies with an exotic twist (pandan extract) for a change.

Today is Christmas Eve and the girls decided we would leave some milk and cookies for Santa tonight. My little munchkin thinks she'll get more presents this way.